Lighter with a lock-off mechanism

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a lighter with a lock-off mechanism. Since the lighter in the art has not been provided with a lock-off mechanism limiting the operation of the actuator, the safety is lower. The lighter according to the present invention comprises a tank, a piezoelectric device, and an outlet device, wherein said actuator is provided with a lock-off mechanism formed by a gear, a rack and a return spring, the gear engages with the rack and cooperates together with it; the return spring is located between the actuator and the rack and causes the lower end of the rack being inserted into the tank in the no-operation condition. By moving the rack up or down, the locking or unlocking is achieved. According to the present invention, the safety of the lighter is improved, and the risk of generating a flame due to directly turning the actuator or unintentionally abutting against the actuator by an external force is avoided.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a lighter with a lock-offmechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

[0002] A lighter commonly used at present is an electric igniter usingcombustible gas, such as butane gas and natural gas, as a fuel. It cangenerate a flame usually by pressing the operative actuator directly bythe fingers and permitting the piezoelectric block in a piezoelectricdevice to spark so as to ignite the combustible gas. Without a lock-offmechanism (or a safety device) in the lighter, the operation of theactuator is not restricted, so that an unintentional operation of theactuator, such as an error operation, an operation by the infant, orsome unintentional collision by a hard thing acting on the actuator, caneasily ignite the lighter containing the combustible gas in itself,which will hurt the infant or damage the public safety. In addition,when an external force unintentionally acts on the actuator, the outletvalve will be opened, and then the combustible gas is leaked off, sothat there is a potential risk due to the leaking of the combustiblegas. Therefore, some countries and territories have prohibited or willprohibit the producing and selling of the lighter without a lock-offmechanism.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] An object of the present invention is to overcome theabove-mentioned technical defects of the prior art, and to provide alighter provided with a lock-off mechanism which can prevent theactuator of the lighter from being turned on directly, so as to avoidthe above-mentioned potential risk. The lighter of the present inventioncan provide not only a higher ignition efficiency, but also highersafety. In order to achieve the above object, according to the presentinvention, there is provided a lighter which comprises a tank forhousing the fuel, a piezoelectric device in the tank, an outlet device,and a windshield above the tank, wherein the piezoelectric devicecomprises a piezoelectric block and an actuator, and a force applied onthe piezoelectric block by the actuator causes the piezoelectric blockto generate a stronger instantaneous current and create electric sparks;the outlet device comprises an outlet valve, a regulator ring and anlever, the lever opens the outlet valve under the driving of theactuator, and the regulator ring is adapted to adjust the air output,characterized in that said actuator is provided with a lock-offmechanism comprising a gear as a rotatable control member, a rack as alinearly movable locking member, and a return spring. The gear engageswith the rack and co-operates together with it, and the return spring islocated between the actuator and the rack, which keeps the lower end ofthe rack being inserted in the tank in the no-operation condition so asto lock the lighter. In this case, the actuator can not be turneddirectly. The actuator can be turned only after the gear is rotated tocause the rack to disengage from the tank so as to release the locking.

[0004] According to one aspect of the lighter with a lock-off mechanismof the present invention, the lower end of the rack is of an arc shape,which can be smoothly transited to the engaging surface of the tank, sothat the actuator can be moved and returned smoothly.

[0005] According to the other aspect of the present invention, said gearis pivotally arranged in the chamber of the actuator, and the pivotalarrangement can be achieved by a rotation shaft, by fitting twoprojections provided on the opposed sides of the gear center into therecesses in the actuator or by other equivalent arrangements so as tomake the rotation of the gear flexible.

[0006] According to another aspect of the present invention, the returnspring is accommodated in the chamber formed by the actuator and therack. The return spring can be a compression spring vertically mountedin the chamber or a torsion spring sleeved on the rotation shaft of thegear.

[0007] According to another aspect of the present invention, a lowercover is provided at the bottom of the tank to ensure the tank to besealed strictly.

[0008] According to the invention, since the actuator has been providedat its one side with the lock-off mechanism cooperating with it, if thelock-off mechanism is not turned on, it is impossible to turn theactuator, so as to overcome the above problems of the prior art, improvethe safety and prevent error operation.

[0009] The present invention will be described in detail by way ofexample and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the general configure of thelighter according to the invention,

[0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the lighter in its lockingposition according to the invention,

[0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the lighter in its operatingposition according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the lighter of the present inventioncomprises a tank 13, a piezoelectric device 15 in the tank, an outletdevice 16, a windshield 4 above the outlet device, an actuator 6 overthe windshield, an inner shield 5 in the windshield 4, a top cover 7 onthe actuator, and a lower cover 14 at the bottom of the tank 13, whereinthe piezoelectric device 15 comprises a piezoelectric block 11, anactuator 6 and a rubber cushion 12; the outlet device 16 comprises anoutlet valve 1, a regulator ring 2 and an lever 3, which are allassembled together in a conventional manner. On the actuator 6 isprovided with a lock-off mechanism formed by a gear 8, a rack 10 and areturn spring 9. The gear 8 engages with the rack 10 and co-operatestogether with it. The rack 10 can move up or down under the action ofthe gear 8 and the return spring 9 so as to disengage from or beinserted into the tank 13 in order to release or achieve the locking.The windshield 4 is adapted to shield the flame from the wind, the innershield 5 is adapted to isolate the flame, the cushion 12 can absorb theshock, and the tank 13 houses the gas.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, in the locking position, the lower end of therack 10 is inserted into the tank 13 under the action of the returnspring 9. At this time, the actuator can not be turned directly by thefinger. Even if there is a force acted on the gear 8 in the clockwisedirection, since the lower end of the rack 10 abuts against the innerwall of the tank 13, the gear 8 can not be rotated, so that the lighteris locked off.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 3, while igniting the lighter, the gear 8 shouldbe drove in the counter clockwise direction at first, then the rack 10engaged with the gear moves up and disengages from the tank 13, so as tounlock the lighter, and the actuator 6 can be turned at the same time.Thus, the turning of the actuator 6 will drive the lever 3 to open theoutlet valve 1, and the piezoelectric block 11 sparks simultaneously andthen ignites the combustible gas. The flame will not be extinguishedtill the actuator 6 is turned off. Adjusting the regulator ring 2 canchange the extension of the flame. If the user wants to extinguish theflame, what the user needs to do is to release his finger, which willmake the actuator 6 restored automatically, and the rack 10 will returnto the locking position under the force of the return spring 9, so thatthe lighter is restored to the locking condition. Subsequently, thelever 3 is restored to close the outlet valve 1, and the flow passage ofthe combustible gas is cut off, so that the flame is extinguished.

[0016] The present invention includes, but not exclusively, the exampledescribed above, various equivalent modification and variations of thelock-off mechanism, which utilizes engagement between a rotatablecontrol member and a linearly movable locking member so as to make bothmembers co-operate together, will fall into the protection scope of thepresent invention. For example, the control member may be a gear, acrank, a ratchet wheel, a cam or the like, the locking member cooperatedwith the control member may be a rack or a straight strap, etc., and thereturn mechanism making the locking member return may be a spring, asteel strap, a spring leaf or the like that has resilient returnfunction.

1. A lighter with a lock-off mechanism comprising a tank (13), apiezoelectric device (15)in the tank, an outlet device (16), and awindshield (4) above the tank, wherein the piezoelectric device (15)comprises a piezoelectric block (11) and an actuator (6), and the outletdevice (16) comprises an outlet valve (1) and an lever (3),characterized in that said actuator is provided with a lock-offmechanism formed by a gear (8) as a rotatable control member, a rack(10) as a linearly movable locking member and a return spring (9), andthe gear (8) engages with he rack (10) and co-operates together with it;the return spring (9) is located between the actuator (6) and the rack(10) and causes the lower end of the rack (10) being inserted into thetank (13) in the no-operation condition.
 2. A lighter according to claim1, wherein the lower end of the rack 10 is of an arc shape, which can besmoothly transited to the engaging surface of the tank.
 3. A lighteraccording to claim 1, wherein said gear (8) is pivotally arranged in thechamber of the actuator (6).
 4. A lighter according to claim 1, whereinthe return spring (9) is accommodated in the chamber formed by theactuator (6) and the rack (10).
 5. A lighter according to claim 1,wherein a lower cover (14) is provided at the bottom of the tank (13).